Shoe stiffener



. Sept. 15, 1931.- H. H. BECKWITH SHOE STIFFENER Filed June 16, 1928 Patented Sept. 15, '1931 UNITED ;1 STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOE STIFFENER Application filed June 18,

As heretofore commonly constructed shoe stifl'enershave been made of felt saturated with stiffening agents which have usually been of thermoplastic nature, rigid when 5 coldbut softening when subjected to moderate heat. These stifl'eners have usually been skived along one or more edges. Such stififenersmust be of considerable thickness to impart the required stiffness and to have suflicient strength to withstand the lasting operations when softened. The skived edges also are liable to be broken when the stiffener is cold and also to be rough and irregular. It has also been proposed to use the thermoplastic in sheet form. This, however, is very brittle when cold so that it has been suggested to reinforce such a stiflener with a layer of fabric to hold the pieces together. When such stilfeners are used the thermoplastic material is softened and caused to penetrate the adjacent shoe parts more or less. Such stifieners are diflicult to handle and require the use of special heated presses in order to shape them and also to cause the thermoplastic to penetrate the shoe materials. They are also of considerable caliper and have other serious drawbacks. The object-of the present invention is to produce economically stiffeners of adequate stifine'ss' off 'sufficient resiliency to avoid danger of breaking when cold, of greatly increased tensile strength, and at the same time of'greatly reduced caliper relatively to those herebefore mentioned. y

The stitl'ener of the present invention,

' therefore, comprises a laminated fibrous structure, the best construction which I have found comprising a single layer of-cloth and a singleilayer of porous absorbent paper 0 intimately united in face to face relation, the sheet tliius formed being saturated with a stiffening agent. The paper may be made from any suitable furnish, such as ra stock. high alpha wood fiber, or the like, which will 5 yield the desired softporous sheet, and may be deposited from the stock directly onto the cloth if desired, although certain desirable qualities may be imparted where the paper is separately formed and is cemented to the cloth ,by a suitable adhesive, such as glue,

itself splittin 1928. Serial No. 285,993.

flour or starch paste, casein, a rubber cement,

or a water dispersion of rubber, either natural, aslatex, or artificially produced as by means of a dispersing agent such as a hydrophilic colloid, colloidal clay,- an albumi- 5 nate, soap, or the like.

The particular cement used will depend on the particular characteristics desired in the finished product. Thus glue or paste will tend to give a product of high sti ness while rubber will impart high resilience. The fabric may be sheeting, duck, or even cheesecloth if desired, although the more closely woven cloths are usually preferable, due to their greater strength and less tendency to stretch. The composite sheet .thus formed may be saturated with any desired stiffening agent, preferably a thermoplastic such as Montan wax, rosin, asphalts, or mixtures of such materials. Where light colored upper 7 materials are employed, thermoplastic such as Montan wax or rosin are generally preferable The saturated material iscut to the desired shapes such as for box toe or counter stifieners and if desired may be skived to form thin edges. Preferably this skiving is done -on the paper side, as the cloth side forms a better thine edge. The stiffener skives cleanly to the fabric edge which is flexible so and strong. This strength permits a hard pull to be exerted in the pulling over and lasting operat1ons across the back edge line of the stlfi'ener without danger of the stiffener or permitting the lining or the upper stoc to split. There is also the furth'er advantage in skivin on the paper side in that this brings the clot on the convex face of the stiffener, the'bending of the stiffener to shape tending to crowd the paper stock together on the concave side, as the cloth, particularly when of the closely woven' type,

stretches but sli htly. The porous paper acts to bond the t rmoplastic with which it is saturated so that it does not break or crumble when cold. The adhesive between the laminations is protected by the thermoplastic stiffening agent, with which the. layers are saturated, from the effects ofmoisture. The adhesive likewise prevents the adjacent por- Thus each ofthesestiffening materials imparts to the stiffener its own desirable char.- acteristics substantially unaffected by the presence of the other and each may be made to minimize any undesirable characteristics .which the stifiener might have possessed should the other only have been used.

It has been found quite possible to produce stifieners constructed according to this invention of substantially one half the caliper, say, thirty-two to thirty-five thousandths of an inch, of those heretofore made of saturated felt, the felt being made either on a paper machine, or by the usual fulling operations, and yet of at least twice the tensile I strength of such stiffeners when softened or limp and with a much greater resistance to cracking when cold.

The thinness of the material helps to eliminate the line across the forepart of the upper of the shoe along the rear edge of the stiffener so that the edge of the stifiener does not show through the upper. It also makes a better contour where the toe upper materials pass across the edge of the innersole and beneath it and onto its lower face, and allows a closer edge to be trimmed about-the toe of the outer sole. A thin stifl'ener of adequate stiffness and strength has been long desired by shoe manufacturers. The stiffener yields mcely to either dry or moist heat and holds plastic long enough for the lasting operations to be; completed.

For a. more complete understanding of this invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a section of the stifi'ener material.

Figure 2 is a detail section to a much enlarged scale as for example, on line 2--2 of Fi re 1. x

, igure 3 is a plan of the under side of a completed toe stififener'blank.

F1gure4 is a section on line 44 of Fig- .ure 3.

Figure 5 is a plan of a counter stifiener blank. o

Figure 6 is a detail sebtion on line 66 of Figure 5. y i Figure 7 is a side elevation of a shoe showmg the locations of the toe and counter stiff-' eners therein.

Referring to these drawings, the stiffener materlal as shown comprises a layer of fabr c 1 and a layer of soft absorbent paper '2 fixed together in face to face relation. As shown best in Figure 2, the attachment of these lamlnations together is done by the use of a suitable cement indicated at 3 which penetrates'slightly'the adjacent surfaces of both the cloth and the paper. The composite sheet thus formed is then saturated with a stiffening agent such as thermoplastic materials heretofore mentioned, this agent permeating the fabric and the paper and enveloping the cement 3 therebetween. This saturating stiffening agent thus protects the cement from moisture, which is particularly important where cements in the nature of glue or paste are employed, while the cement prevents the saturation 'by the stiffening saturant of the adjacent surfaces of the laminations where they have been penetrated by 1 the cement. The cement may thus serve as a stifiening agent having certain character stics, while the saturating stifiening agent serves to impart other desirable characteristics. For example, where glue is used as a the cementing agent, it resists the action of dry heat so that the stiffener can be softened completely only by the use of moisture as well as heat. The necessity of moisture for softening prevents the action of solar heat a to which the shoe might be exposed in show windows from causing the stifi'eners to unduly soften. Where rubber is used as the cementing agent, it imparts a higher degree of resilienceto the stiflener than could be 9 obtained by the use of a thermoplastic agent alone. Each stiffening agent, therefore, 1mparts its own desirable characteristics to the stiffener substantially unmodified by the other.

The material thus made may be cut to any suitable form, as for example the toe stiffener, as shown in Figure 3, or the counter stiffener as shown in Figure 5. Where it is desired to impart a thin edge, this may be done by skiving the blank, preferably on the paper side, as this leaves the fabric to form the thin edge, as is shown at 5 in Figures 3 and 4, and 6 in Figures 5 and 6, this being on toe and counter stifieners, respectively. 1 Of course, if desired, the laminations could be cut to the desired shape before being cemented together, or before being saturated with the stiffening a out, though it is usually preferable to complete the cementing and l saturation before cutting into blanks. lgt being possible to make this material relatlvely thin and yet of suflicient strength, stiffness and resiliency for its intended purpose, it is possible when pulling over and lasting the 1 upper materials to conform them closely to the last and impart the desired contour theret0.

In Figure 7 a toe stiffener is indicated by dotted lines at 10 and a counter stiffener is 1 indicated by dotted lines at 11. Due to the thinness of the material which permits the upper to be drawn over the last to conform more closely to its outline than if the stiffener were thicker, it is possible to trim the l sole edge 12 exceedingly close as shown in Figure 7. It is also possible to conform the usual attaching flange of the counter stiffener which underlies the last so as to prevent bulging of the upper materiaIs, thus permit- 1 ting a closer joint between the heel 13 and the upper materials without special treatment of such materials for this purpose in the case of wood heels where the upper edges of theheels come into direct contact with the upper materials.

Having thus described certain embodiments of this invention, it should be evident I to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications might be made therein without departing from its spirit or scope as defined by the appended claims.

1 I claim:

1. A shoe stiffener comprising a single layer of cloth and a single layer of absorbent paper fixed in face to face relation with an adhesive, the whole being saturated with a thermoplastic stiffening agent. I 2. A shoe stiffener comprising a single layer of cloth and asingle layer of absorbent paper fixed in face to face relation with rubber, the whole being saturated with a thermoplastic stifi'ening agent. e

. 3. A shoe stifi'ener comprising a single layer of cloth and a single layer of paper in face to face relation" and treated with a stiffening agent, the edge of said stifiener being skived on the pa or side. a \V I 4. shoe sti ener comprising a single 3" .layermf fabric and a single layer-of porous paper cemented together in' face to face rela- -tion with a stiffening" agent, said agent being enveloped by another stifiening agent per- Y meatin'g the fabric and paper layers.

:In testimony whereof I have aflixedmy signature. HARRY H. BECKWITH. Y 

